Wherever you stand on the movies-are-dead spectrum, David Ehrlich’s latest 25 Best Films supercut might just revive your wistfulness. The Indiewire critic starts the countdown with a montage cleverly addressing Film Twitter’s great debate, narrated by Jimmy Carter’s 1979 “Crisis of Confidence†speech: “Often you see paralysis, stagnation, and drift,†Carter said. “What can we do?†Ehrlich’s answer: Watch Moonlight, La La Land, Jackie, and A Bigger Splash. Even if most of the year’s releases left us near flatlining, there’s still a little bit of hope left in Ehrlich’s edit, which includes a dreamy mashup of Whitney Houston, American Honey, and Indignation. At the end, top pick Moonlight is soundtracked by Cat Power’s cover of “Wild Is the Wind,†reducing us all to a blubbering mess. See Ehrlich’s full list below:
25. Weiner
24. High Rise
23. Lemonade
22. Kate Plays Christine
21. Things to Come
20. Always Shine
19. Manchester by the Sea
18. Swiss Army Man
17. Silence
16. Hail, Caesar!
15. The Witch
14. American Honey
13. Indignation
12. Toni Erdmann
11. The Handmaiden
10. The Love Witch
9. The Lobster
8. La La Land
7. The Fits
6. Kubo and the Two Strings
5. A Bigger Splash
4. O.J.: Made in America
3. Jackie
2. Sunset Song
1. Moonlight